Round 12 of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship began today with the two opening free practice sessions that, combined with the third one scheduled for tomorrow at 9:45am local time (GMT+2) will decide the twenty riders qualifying for the Tissot-Superpole of the Fassi French Round. Here is what some of the protagonists of today’s action had to say during this afternoon’s official press conference.
Jonathan Rea – Kawasaki Racing Team – 1st
Twitter: @jonathanrea Instagram: @jonathan_rea Facebook: JonathanReaOfficial
“It’s a good start and nice to be back with the leading riders. In Jerez we struggled a bit so for sure my aim this weekend is to be back on the podium. We did a good job today which is important because some people are saying that it will rain tomorrow.”
Chaz Davies – Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team – 2nd
Twitter: @chazdavies Instagram: @chazdavies7 Facebook: chazdavies7
“I’m fairly pleased with how today went. I’ve always had a bit of a strange time here at Magny-Cours in the past but today we’ve made a good start and I hope that we can continue on like this tomorrow. We’ve continued with the work carried out at the Jerez test, also concentrating on tyre selection. We’ve still got work to do, I’d like to improve my bike’s turning a little more for example, but I’m happy with the progress made today.”
Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – 3rd
Facebook: Tom-Sykes-66 Twitter: TheRealTomSykes
“We’re happy with how today went and of course our aim for this weekend is to beat Chaz and win races. We have a few things to try tomorrow morning to improve the bike and whether the weather throws at us we’ll be ready. I’d like to sort second place out myself and I certainly won’t be asking for anyone to assist me.”
Sylvain Guintoli – Pata Honda World Superbike – 12th
Twitter: SylvainGuintoli Facebook: SylvainGuintoliOfficialPage Instagram: sylvainguintoli
“This morning was good straightaway. We were able to get into some decent lap times early on and we were only 0.4s from the front with a good time. But it then became a struggle to go faster this afternoon and I could only match the morning time and not improve. I felt like I was riding on the limit and couldn’t go any faster. We’ve got some different geometry and settings to use tomorrow morning to try and improve where we are weak, and we’re lacking a little on top speed, too. I know the track here really well and I know how to go fast quite quickly but improving after that is quite difficult.”
Randy de Puniet – Voltcom Crescent Suzuki – 16th
Twitter: RandydePuniet14 Facebook: randy.depuniet.39 Instagram: randydepuniet14
“I’m not that happy about the first day, ok it is the first time I have ridden here for many years, but the feeling with the bike is like Jerez not like Malaysia and Laguna as I would like. We have tried some adjustments which improved during the morning session, but this afternoon we tried something different again which did not work for me. The rhythm is not good enough so we need to find something for tomorrow morning because we need one second to be inside the top ten. I hope we can take half a step with the bike and I will find the last half to be able to fight at this point.”
